The United Reformed Church

As a Church of the Reformation which began in continental Europe, the URC has many links with pan-European churches and ecumenical bodies. It is a member of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) which includes Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox and Reformed Churches. It is also a member of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). The URC is the only church with a presence in England to be a member of the World Council of Reformed Churches.

In the wake of the EU referendum, the URC General Assembly passed a resolution celebrating our Reformed European heritage and identity, and promising to uphold our ongoing ecumenical relationships with partner European churches. If your church is actively involved in a link with a continental church please let ecumenical and inter faith relations at Church House have the details, by contacting ecumenical@urc.org.uk. We would like to support and encourage you in this important ecumenical work.

Germany

For over 60 years the URC has had a Covenant of Pulpit and Table Fellowship with the Protestant Churches in the Palatinate region of Germany, the ‘Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz’. Around twenty local URC’s are twinned with partner German churches from the region. Regular exchanges and youth visits take place each year. There is a bi-annual theological consultation - the last one was in September 2018 and considered how the British and German churches can speak into an increasingly divided Europe. For Remembrance 2018, a unique British-German commemoration booklet was published entitled: One hundred years after the First World War: Looking back, looking forward, and the German and British churches share Advent and Lent resources.

Remembrance Hymn - For the Beauty of the Somme

In 2018 Pfarrer Martin Henninger, Minister of the Lutherkirche in Frankenthal, and the Revd David Pickering, then Moderator of the Synod of Scotland, wrote a remembrance hymn for the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I, following their joint pilgrimage to the Somme.

The hymn has been arranged and recorded by Roo Stewart, Programme Support Officer (URC Church and Society) with vocals by Roo Stewart and Debs Brooks. The version posted here was used at the Bilton Grange and Knaresborough URC remembrance day service in 2020.

A solely instrumental version can be found here.

You can read a further explanation of the hymn by David Pickering here.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Members of the United Reformed Church and the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz met in Frankenthal from November 7-11 to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many local URC and EKP churches are in twinning or similar partnerships. 

On 9th November 2019, the day marking 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 29 years since leading to the reunification of Germany, and the 81 years since Kristallnacht, leaders of the United Reformed Church and the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz signed a statement that acknowledging with sadness that around the world, physical and imagined walls are once again being built. Later in the same month, this declaration was then endorsed by the URC’s Mission Council and the Landessynode of the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz. Mission Council and the Pfalz Synod wholeheartedly embraced the statement which declares that: differences of opinion, culture, faith and conviction are treated with respect; that we all speak out against racism in all forms and report all incidents; that we underline our commitment against anti-semitism and any form of religious hatred; that refugees are not used as scapegoats but rather seen as those who enrich communities; that we strive for unity lived out in our churches as an example for our societies; that we recommit ourselves to the spirit of the first Covenant of fellowship signed in 1957. 

Read the statement in full

Visit the Flickr gallery with photos and videos from the Fall of the Wall Conference

Keep up to date with the latest news, stories and pictures from this active partnership by clicking on the link for the newsletter (you can sign up to receive your own copy direct).

URC Palatinate Partnership newsletter archive

Italy

The relationship between the churches which formed the URC in 1972 and the Waldensian Church (Chiesa Valdese) in Italy, goes back to Reformation times – though the Waldensian ‘movement’ started in the 12th century. In 1655, Oliver Cromwell organised a collection to be made among English churches to give financial support, after the Waldensians had been attacked by the Savoy army, with John Milton writing his famous sonnet, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont, for the occasion; and there were close ties in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries between the Waldensians and the Presbyterian Church of England, including regular moderatorial visits to Italy.

Since 1981 the URC-Waldensian Fellowship has been encouraging ‘ordinary’ church members to meet, through organised visits in both directions, individual and church contacts, and the biennial ‘Gathering’, which has a speaker from Italy. In 2018 a URC group visited Calabria and Puglia and plans are underway for a trip to the historic Alpine Valleys in 2020. See here for more information about the United Reformed Church Waldensian Fellowship visit to the Waldensian Valleys and the coast of Liguria which will take place between Monday 25 May and Friday 5 June 2020.

The Waldensians, noted for their strong commitment to helping the oppressed, and to clear thinking on ecumenical, ethical and theological matters, have an excellent website in English here. Anyone interested in further information should contact ecumenical@urc.org.uk.

Servizio Cristiano is a diaconal project belonging to the Waldensian Church in Italy. Founded in 1961 by Tullio Vinay, a Waldensian pastor who became a Senator in Parliament, Servizio Cristiano today continues his social, cultural and educational commitment to helping the weakest in society.

The ecumenical scene differs in England, Scotland and Wales and as a consequence, the URC interacts with a variety of umbrella bodies.

• Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), spans all three nations (and the Republic of Ireland). CTBI produces the material each year for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, as well as annual Lent resources.
• The Free Churches Group, is an umbrella body for the free churches in England and Wales. This group has a particular focus on chaplaincy work in prisons, healthcare and education. The Free Churches Group recently commissioned an eighteen-month
  research project looking at the relationship between the Church and social cohesion in England. https://www.freechurches.org.uk/free-churches-commission/

The URC is a partner member to HOPE, which acts as a catalyst to encourage churches to work together in missional projects, specifically at a local level.

In England

The URC belongs to Churches Together in England (CTE), which has a very wide membership, encompassing 49 different denominations and church groupings. Although still a work in progress, the CTE document, ‘A new Framework for Local Unity in Mission’ is now the broadly accepted resource paper for ecumenical working in England. It provides a realistic and up-to-date picture of the state of ecumenism in England. The document helpfully encourages a more creative and lighter touch approach to ecumenical ways of working. The CTE website is a helpful source of ecumenical resource material

In Scotland

The URC is a member of Action for Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) which has nine member denominations. In 2010 a partnership was established with the Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church (EMU). The URC has a natural and active relationship with the Church of Scotland as a fellow Reformed Church. The URC Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer for Scotland is a shared Assembly and Synod post. The Revd John Bremner can be reached on: ecumenical@urcscotland.org.uk.

In Wales

The URC belongs to Churches Together in Wales (CYTUN), which has made formal partnership arrangements with the Commission of the Covenanted Churches in Wales. This latter body brings together the URC, Methodist Church, Covenanted Baptists, the Presbyterian Church of Wales and the Church in Wales. CYTUN organise a very helpful residential ecumenical course to help introduce new ministers to Wales. The URC Ecumenical Officer for Wales is a shared Assembly and Synod post. The Revd Sally Massey Thomas can be reached on: ecumenical@urcwales.org.uk

Methodist/URC Liaison Group

The Methodist/URC Liaison Group meets twice a year and its task is to focus on the local and intermediate dimensions of the relationship between the Methodist Church and the URC. As such it deals with many practical aspects of our working together. The guidelines for the induction and welcome service of a new minister serving in a Methodist/URC Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) is an example of this joint co-operation.

Both the URC and Methodist Church provide courses which provide an introduction to their respective denominations for ministers working in LEPs.

The Methodist/URC Liaison Group is convened jointly by the Revd David Chapman, Chair of the Beds, Essex and Herts Methodist District and the Revd Paul Whittle, Moderator of URC Eastern Synod.

The URC Secretary for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, and the Methodist Connexional Ecumenical Officer act as joint secretaries to the Group.

In January 2019, the liaison group issued a model constitution for Methodist-United Reformed Church ecumenical areas: model constitution

Church of England/URC Contact Group

Since its formation in 1972, the URC has entered into various dialogues with the Church of England, beginning with the informal tripartite Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed conversations, which started in 1999 and was published in 2001 as ‘Conversations on the way to unity’; followed by the report ‘Healing the Past – Building the Future’ (2010) which led to a service of reconciliation in Westminster Abbey in 2012 on the occasion of 350th anniversary of ‘the Great Ejection’ in 1662; and then the subsequent document ‘Unity, Identity and Mission’ (2016).

In 2018, the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England and the mission committee of the URC agreed to establish a contact group to continue this collaboration. Its work will be carried out particularly with reference to the Anglican Methodist Covenant.

The first meeting of the contact group will take place during 2019.

The Roman Catholic/URC Dialogue Group

The Roman Catholic/URC dialogue group is now in its third phase of discussions. The group is currently reflecting
on the ways in which the two churches can work together particularly in the local context. One of themes for theological
discussion is ‘sainthood and celebrity’. The group is co-convened by the Right Revd Paul Hendricks, SW Area Auxiliary Bishop
in the RC Archdiocese of Southwark and the Revd Dr John Bradbury from the URC.

The group has recently produced a resource Let's talk about saints. This is the first of an occasional series of resource sheets, aiming to explore issues of faith and practice in both traditions. The resource is designed for local RC and URC congregations to use together. It could be a one off meeting, or part of a regular pattern of meetings. The material could also be used by a wider ‘churches together’ style group, and there are notes for facilitators at the end of the resource.

The term Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEP) describes the situation where more than one Christian denomination is working together under a formal agreement. The URC is involved in around 400 LEPs; our most common partnerships are with the Methodist Church, the Baptists and the Church of England.

The Methodist Church is our closest ecumenical partner with whom we share in approximately 300 LEPs, 100 of which also comprise one or more additional ecumenical partners. There are 12 LEPs which include the Roman Catholic Church and a total of four united congregations, with the Moravian Church. We have eight LEPs with the Church of Scotland. In Wales, LEPs exist with the Church in Wales, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterian Church of Wales and the Union of Welsh Independents.

LEP documentation

LEP arrangements are necessarily individual to each setting and are established by means of formal documentation. This takes the form of a constitution or model governing document, and usually a sharing agreement, to take note of the original financial assets contributed by each denomination. In the URC, each individual synod oversees this detailed work and will generally nominate an ecumenical officer to help guide the process. There is a good deal of helpful guidance in terms of LEPs and associated documentation available on the Churches Together in England (CTE) website.

Ecumenical areas

In several parts of the country we are part of Methodist-United Reformed Church ecumenical areas. In
January 2019, the two denominations issued a model constitution for ecumenical areas.

The ecumenical county of Cumbria is a good example of how a willingness to work in unity builds the mission of the Church.
Cumbria’s vision of 'God for all' sets the challenge that by 2020 every person in Cumbria will have had an opportunity to
discover more of God and God’s purpose for their life. URC Special Category Minister, the Revd Sarah Moore, serves as area
president for Cumbria. See the 2018 CTE report on the work of Churches Together in Cumbria here.